Why do we debate over the internet so much?

[Harleykin]

Anonymity. Just think about it; would you stop and start arguing a hobo on the street shouting about stupid and inflammatory bullshit? No, you would probably walk away and completely disregard him.

ask the idiot hobo spewing racist bullshit next to me the other day i just scream as loud as i could telling to shut the fuck up. I'm from germany and that might be why get so angry about stuff like that but yeah basically it's just that: yelling at "stupid" people or opinions.
i'm not really the debating kind i just get worked up about tiny details go into rage mode sometimes but honestly if it comes to a board like this i only pick up topics i considere worthwhile.
i try to behave myself and i try to show my pov and maybe someone relates or yells at me for saying stupid stuff.
that's why i am here tbh.

 

[renegade7]

Back in the real world, it's much harder to have a reasonable debate.

It's actually pretty difficult to debate in person. You have to remember all your facts, you have to articulate clearly, and you have to work very hard to keep it civil. A conversation about religion can turn into fisticuffs with one wrong choice of words, or at least become highly awkward. Multiply that by 1000 if there's an audience. Back when I was on my college debate team, the issue of the day was teaching evolution...not only do you have to have to be ready to counter whatever Bible quote or factoid they can throw at you (pro-tip: if you ever want to debate a creationist, read and study the Bible. Seriously. You might be an atheist, but it's to your benefit to be able to appeal to religion: I've had more success by suggesting that "Maybe god created a universe of scientific laws" than with any discussion of scientific methods and facts. Winning a debate means finding middle ground.), but you've got a theater with 500 people in it, half of whom look like they're ready to rip your head off, and you'll have to be as civil and polite as possible because a key creationist tactic is to represent science as part of a secular agenda out to destroy religion and they will immediately pounce on any opportunity to make you look like the bad guy.

On the internet, you don't have to respond immediately. It takes a lot of the stress out of being on the spot. Instead of fumbling for a fact I had prepared to make a case, I can Google it and have all the time I need to work it into a rebuttal or argument. You can think about what you're going to say.

Anonymity is important. Offline, there are things that might be inappropriate to talk about. In a conservative setting, you can get yourself in a lot of trouble by opening a debate about abortion, for instance, regardless of where you stand on the issue.

There are things you can debate on the internet that you cannot debate elsewhere because it's easier to find participants. Take the Escapist, for instance. Being a video game website, politics surrounding video games and the Internet are very important to most of us, anywhere else people who have opinions on net neutrality, free-to-play, microtransactions, which equipment or platforms or games to buy, and DRM are in the minority. Here, you can easily find people to talk about that stuff with.

 

[Hawkeye21]

What else is there to do? Hug and agree with each other? Where is the fun in that? Seriously though, if there is a group of three people anywhere, between them they are going to hold 5 polar opposite opinions.

Also, expressing agreement with someone on the internet requires amount of effort (e.g. actually typing words), but what would be your motivation for doing so? On the other hand, when someone expresses an opinion contrary to your own, you immediately feel plenty of butthurt, which can motivate you to spam whole walls of text in a matter of minutes.

 

[Vegosiux]

And then, a lot of people get involved to stick up for people being attacked, not persuade attackers to stop.

Aren't those the same thing?

It may be how I've been raised, but "sticking up for someone" in a discussion, mind[footnote]Other kinds of conversation are different, to say nothing of times when it gets physical[/footnote] often warrants a "What are you, their lawyer?" reaction from me. Depending on how 'personal' it is, I suppose. I mean, jumping in with additional arguments to support their position is fair game, but the moment it becomes about "rescuing the distressed", it stops being about the issue was discussed.

 

[anthony87]

"Debate" might be putting it a little generously no? More often than not it seems to be people shouting at each other until someone gets pissed off and gives up.

 

[Movitz]

Well yeah, you rarely convince anyone to change their viewpoints through debate if they wasn't already open to the change, in which case they might already through studying the subject come to a different conclusion than what they had prior to doing so.

But it does happen, sometimes. When the stars are right..

 

[shrekfan246]

"Debate" might be putting it a little generously no? More often than not it seems to be people shouting at each other until someone gets pissed off and gives up.

Think schoolyard slapfights, that'll give you a good idea of what it generally looks like.

Bonus points when the two kids fighting aren't even actually hitting each other, but are just whiffing the air between them.

OT: I think the GIFT can apply to this question as well.

Spoiler: GIFT

It may have mostly been a joke, but it only ever seems to gain relevance by the way people actually act online.

Add to that the fact that most people feel their opinions are the only correct opinions and rarely, if ever, have said opinions challenged in their daily lives (or in some cases always have said opinions challenged and thus feel extremely defensive), and the previously mentioned ease with which you can "argue" across the internet.

Personally, I try not to get involved if I can help it anymore. Like Zhukov said, occasionally there's someone who said something that just happened to be ridiculous enough in a certain way that I want to respond to it against my better judgement, but most of the time it's just not worth it. It's draining and above all else just very saddening to really see some of the things people will say when they think their words have no repercussions or consequences.